by Natalie Reid
Then she felt the liquid spreading to her body. The feeling was less intense the further out it spread, but it left her with a strangely wired and restless feeling. The oddest thing was, her lungs didn’t really feel any different.
When Tag finally took the needle out, she gave him a sideways glance.
“That burning was normal, right?”
“Oh, perfectly,” he replied. “If it didn’t burn, it didn’t work.”
He placed the used syringe back in his case, closed it up, and placed his hand over the handle. He gripped it like he was debating whether or not he should pick it up, and Jessie stared down at it, hoping that there wasn’t another injection that he wanted to give her.
Then Tag lifted the case up, but immediately swung it back to the desk, knocking it into a metal plaque that Carver received from when he got promoted to Lieutenant. Tag had swung his case into the plaque so hard that it was sent rocketing across the room. It was about to create a massive dent in the wall, when suddenly Jessie found herself clutching it in her hands.
She looked down at the plaque in shock and then across the room to where she had just been a second ago. Carver’s office was not that big. It wasn’t so strange that she could make it from end to end in a second flat. But… she never really remembered moving that fast before!
“Whoo!” Tag exclaimed, trying to lighten the mood. “That was a close one!”
She didn’t move from her spot as she stared at him. The plaque was still clutched in her hands, as if she was afraid to move again.
“Here,” he said, coming over to her. “Why don’t you give that to me?” He took the metal orb from her hands and set it back down on the desk. “There, nice and safe,” he commended himself. “He’ll never know of its near demise.”
Jessie’s hands remained spread apart, as if still holding onto the plaque. She realized her mouth was slightly open, and she finally made to close it. Her tongue felt dry in her mouth, and her head was starting to hurt.
“Wha—what did you do to me?” she breathed out.
He waved a hand in dismissal. “It’s perfectly natural to feel weird after the injection I just gave you. Don’t worry; it’ll pass. I’ll tell your Lieutenant that you need some rest. Just drink plenty of water, and you should feel much better in no time.”
He clapped her on the back, led her to the door, and pushed her into the hallway. She was so dumbfounded that she couldn’t find the will-power to turn around and demand more questions. Then it was like her body took over. Her legs led her to her room and straight to her bathroom sink where she downed glass after glass of water until she finally collapsed on the tiled floor in exhausted ecstasy.
Tag was right, she realized. She did feel much better after drinking water—like a whole new person.
* * *
The microwave was heavy. It was especially heavy after Griffin had to lug it several blocks and four flights of stairs up to Melissa’s apartment. It was just his luck that the elevator would be broken. When he saw the TEMPORARILY OUT OF ORDER sign, he was tempted to jimmy-rig the doors open and find what was wrong with it. Often times, there was just a wire loose or something jammed or clogged, and the system was up and running with a few pokes and prods. Unfortunately, that hadn’t been the case with Melissa’s microwave. After hours and hours of fiddling with it, trying everything he knew to start it back up again, he just couldn’t get the thing running. He even had to ask his boss for help.
He felt a little guilty as he stood in front of the door to her apartment, hugging the microwave to his chest. It had been his boss that eventually got the thing to spring back to life, not him. Yet here he was, about to take credit for it. Still, he had put hours of work into it. So if she thanked him, it wouldn’t be without due merit.
When he heard a voice shout through the door that they would be there in just a second, Griffin shifted uncomfortably from side to side. He wanted to take a hand to his rumpled hair, but he couldn’t do that if he wanted the microwave to stay in one piece.
When the door opened, he managed a smile, only to be surprised by the lazy, grinning face of Melissa’s friend, the girl he had seen at the coffee shop.
“Don’t look so disappointed there, coffee boy,” the girl teased.
She had on a thin tank-top, despite the cold of the coming winter, and smelt like the left-over residue of a night at Mercury’s.
“Hi, hi…” Griffin stuttered. “Um, I’m looking for Melissa. I’ve got her microwave.”
The girl threw her eyebrows up in the air. “Yeah, I know that, genius.” She tilted her head back into the apartment, yelling, “Melissa! Coffee boy’s here!”
The girl didn’t wait for Melissa to show up as she reached a hand out and plopped it on his shoulder, saying, “Come on in.”
She pulled him inside, and up close Griffin could really smell the stench of alcohol on her. He tried to wriggle away from her as fast as he could, a difficult feat considering the microwave in his hands. He didn’t want Melissa coming into the room and thinking that he was coming on to her roommate.
The roommate gave a low chuckle at his squirming, and Griffin took an extra step away. He didn’t understand why Melissa would have such a girl for a roommate. Maybe the poor girl was desperate for a place to stay, and Melissa was the only one kind enough to take her in.
There was a small creak coming from the hallway that led to the bedrooms, and then a moment later Melissa appeared. She was wearing a long, green winter dress, and her brownish red hair fell in soft curls down her shoulders. Griffin’s mouth suddenly felt very dry, and the lost moisture seemed to have migrated down to his hands, for he felt the microwave slipping in his clammy grip. He gave out a small exclamation and tried to secure the machine in his hands, doing a strange giggle and shuffle that sent him dancing through the room. When he finally had it secure again, he looked up to see a small smile playing at Melissa’s lips.
“You can set that down in the kitchen, if you want,” she said, as if speaking to a child.
He nodded and carefully hobbled through the living room and into the kitchen. He set it down on an empty space on the counter, and had to resist the urge to rub his sore arms for fear of looking weak.
“Thank you so much…Griffin, right?” Melissa asked.
He simply nodded.
“It was really sweet of you to do that for us.”
“Yeah,” he said, absently nodding his head. Then, realizing that he just called himself sweet, he quickly added, “It was no problem at all. I was glad to be able to get it back to you all fixed up.” He patted the top of the microwave like saying goodbye to an old friend.
“Do you have your bike outside?” It was the roommate that had asked this question rather abruptly, and Griffin just puttered out a few incoherent sounds as a response. Harper had taken the bike out for a joy-ride. She said she would be quick, but she had been gone for several hours, leaving Griffin to lug the microwave on foot.
“Saturn!” Melissa scolded.
He fought the urge to raise his eye-brows at the roommate’s name. If her name was Saturn, no wonder she liked spending so much time at Mercury’s.
“What?” Saturn defended. “Task Force bikes are sexy.”
“I came here on foot,” Griffin blurted out before Saturn could speak anymore. “I didn’t want to take the chance of the microwave falling off the back.”
Melissa’s face softened as she looked up at him. Then her eyes brightened as she asked, “Would you like to go for a walk with me?”
“Yes,” he said quickly, before his words could get jumbled up.
“Great! I know this wonderful little tea-shop that we can stop by at. It’s just near where I work, in the business district.”
Griffin smiled in pure delight. It was a long walk to Division Bank, where he knew she worked because of Harper’s unrequested spying. But now that bit of information filled him with pleasure and anticipation for the long stroll they would take together.
Bef
ore they had even made it to the door, he was already planning and mapping out routes to take, which streets they should turn on to see the prettiest sights, what types of conversations he could strike up based on the setting. Or maybe, he thought, he should just wing it. Fate had brought them together this far, maybe fate would still guide them on their way.
* * *
The east-end concrete bench under Jessie’s legs was cold and refreshing as she sat down and gulped through another flask of water. Before she was finished, she heard a chuckle and looked up. Standing in front of her was a man from the neighborhood known as Jack the Jumper. He was a friendly sort of person, past the prime of his age but still carrying the spirits of youth. He had white-blonde hair, a short stature, and green eyes that were quick to crinkle in amusement.
No one knew why he was called Jack the Jumper, but there were several theories circulating around the neighborhood. One said that it was because he could jump up on a person without them noticing, and another claimed it was because he could spring out of hidden holes in the ground like a jack rabbit. He never accepted or denied any of these speculations. When asked, he would smile and tap his nose and dare those that asked to figure it out for themselves.
“Thirsty today, are we?” Jack asked. “That’s the fifth time I’ve seen you refill that jug. Is Harvey pushing you too hard up there?”
Jessie wiped the back of her hand across her mouth and shook her head. “No. I already finished cleaning his attic. I guess today is just one of those days when you wake up and you’re extra thirsty. You know, you just can’t seem to get enough.”
He chuckled again and sat on the concrete bench with her. “I know what you mean there.”
She looked up to the building in front of them. Katherine’s building. She could even see her through one of the top windows, airing out some clothes she had washed. If she looked hard, she could even see the stitch-work that riddled the fabric, up and down and across like the lines on the palm of a hand.
“Hey Jack?” she asked, still staring up at the top of the building. “Do you know why Harvey keeps a bunch of Aero Spring Parade decorations up in his attic? He doesn’t seem like the type of person to want to celebrate that kind of thing.”
Jack made a low noise and clasped his hands together. “No. Harvey’s not the same man he was back when he bought those decorations.”
She looked over at him. “What happened?”
He gave out an angered huff. “He found out what Aero City equality really meant.”
“What do you mean?”
She always knew that, when Aero City was formed, it was established on the principle of equality for all. Jobs and job pay had been equalized so that the city could fairly support all of its numbers. But Jessie hadn’t been down in the city much, so she really didn’t know how this was put into practice.
“Yeah, money might be doled out fairly equally,” he said. “But, there are some things that people like us, people like Harvey can never get. We can work and work as hard as we can, but if we don’t know the right people, then we’ll never get any higher. In Aero City, people are currency. It took Harvey a long time to accept that.”
Jack lowered his head and ran his hands together for warmth. “He wanted to be allowed to enter a float into the parade, see. He had all sorts of ideas, worked hard every day to save up to buy the decorations he would need. Don’t ask me why he did, I never asked. Just knew something was fueling him to do it. But in order to be in the parade, you had to get permission from the government.” Jack shook his head. “He tried and tried, and they just wouldn’t let him in. Then he did some digging. The owners of the floats allowed in the parade… all of them were either personal friends of Ward, or one of his higher ups.”
Jessie looked down to the water jug in her hands and suddenly felt very thirsty again.
“People are currency,” Jack said with a shake of his head. He seemed to have lost the initial humor with which he greeted her. “If you ever leave the military and come and live down here, remember that.” He pointed his finger out, as if confronting an invisible man in front of them. “And a float in a parade is not nearly the half of it. Task Force has decided, for whatever reason, that they don’t like me. So now I can’t even leave the east-end without being badgered by them.”
“That’s terrible,” she said sympathetically.
“Ah.” He shrugged. “If making friends with the right people is as good as getting rich, then making enemies with the wrong ones is as good as going bankrupt. I don’t really mind so much. I don’t need too many things to survive. But, unfortunately I can’t get everything here in the east-end.”
Jessie turned the empty jug over and licked her lips. “Well I can go get some things for you if you like.”
His green eyes lit up and he looked more like the Jack the Jumper that the neighborhood kids would flock to when they heard him whistling down the street as he came home from work.
“Jessie Fifty-Fifty,” he said. “You are a gift to us all.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out several bills, rattling off a list of items that he needed, and saying that the best place to get them was a store in the business district. This made Jessie’s heart drop a little. The business district was the area with the highest amount of government and Task Force presence. At the very center was the Bank of Social Numbers, a place she never wanted to see again. Surrounding it were several other government buildings that were rumored to keep surveillance on the whole city. Jessie didn’t really believe that a few buildings could watch everything that happened within Aero City’s walls, but she did think it made the business district a dangerous place to be.
Before setting off, she went to the water facet at the side of the building and downed a few more flasks of water. Ever since Tag had injected her in the morning, she felt unbelievably thirsty. So far there were no more weird spurts of quickness. She walked and moved just as normal as ever. But the truth was, she didn’t try to test herself at all. She was afraid that, the second she tried to start running, the same thing would happen again.
Walking through the streets, she made sure to keep up a steady, regular pace. Her legs felt like they were itching to move faster and try out their full potential, but she restrained herself. She didn’t want to call undue attention to herself. If a Task Force agent spotted her, they would inevitably ask what she was doing there. And if she told them that she was buying supplies for Jack the Jumper, a man that they didn’t like, well then she was really going to be in trouble.
She wondered why she had offered her services so readily. This whole thing had started because she wanted to be able to convince Katherine to take Ben back. Yet, since she arrived in that neighborhood, she barely had any time to speak to her, let alone convince her to make a life-changing decision.
Jessie was so deep in her thoughts and worries that she didn’t even realize she was in the business district until she looked up and saw the skyline of the five government buildings blocking out the sun. She stared at the closest one to her. She knew from its glass-domed top that this was Division Bank. Much like the Bank of Social Numbers, it had a large pole sticking out from its top, and two metal compartments that flashed in red light every few seconds.
The eyes of the city.
They didn’t look or work anything like The Eye inside the center of BLES headquarters. They were even less daunting in appearance. But these scared her more. The people inside of BLES may not be what you would call the good guys, but they were certainly better than those running the government. It was these eyes, strung up in the air and looking over everyone; these eyes that had a death wish for her. She felt it every morning she woke up and every time she looked out the window. She knew the people behind those eyes wanted her dead, and she was defying them each and every day she lived.
Jessie was about to cross the street towards the store she needed, when she heard something rattling. It was a faint sound, almost lost over the crowd of people filing thr
ough the streets. She looked down and noticed a man-hole cover for the sewer. It was vibrating ever-so slightly, making the muffled rattling she was hearing. She jogged down the street a little ways to the next cover. This one was vibrating a little more visibly.
Something was not right, she realized. She could feel that something bad was about to happen. Her head spun about as she watched the people in the street pass her by. Her gut was telling her to warn them of the danger, but she didn’t know what to say. Her reasoning was pushed aside when she saw a Protector with what looked to be her newly evolved daughter, standing over one of the man-holes.
“Run!” she yelled out.
The daughter glanced back to see who had yelled, and that’s when the world went up in chaos.
A loud BOOM rocketed behind them, and she could feel the blast of the explosion and hear the clang of man-hole covers as they shot up in the air, one by one in a chain reaction. The second that this fact registered in Jessie’s brain, she was running straight towards the girl and her mother. The man-hole behind her jutted up in the air in a thick column of purple smoke, and it was only a matter of split seconds before the metal disk under the girl’s feet did the same.
But then, before Jessie could allow herself to worry, she was gripping the girl around her waist and carrying her out of danger. The girl screamed when she grabbed her, startled by the sudden contact that seemed to come out of nowhere. Only when the man-hole cover clanked to the floor in a loud thud, landing next to the geyser of purple smoke that was spewing from it, did she set the girl back down on the floor.
She strained her eyes to see where the girl’s mother went, but the smoke spread so quickly that it was impossible to see anything. Sight was completely cut off, and all she had to rely on were sounds.
